Shares in Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU) rose 3.7% after it confirmed over the weekend that it filed papers ahead of a potential public listing of its Indian asset management joint venture.
A 'red herring' prospectus was filed on Saturday with the registrar of companies in Delhi for an initial public offering, comprising an offer for sale of up to 9.91% of the equity in ICIC Prudential Asset Management Company Ltd.
An IPO had been signposted previously, with Prudential proposing to sell a portion of its 45% stake.
In addition to the potential IPO, Prudential also said it continues to consider a private sale of 2% of the JV to partner ICICI Bank.
"We are also considering an additional pre-IPO placement to select institutional investors before the completion of the IPO," the FTSE 100 company said.
Analysts at UBS estimated the Indian business could be worth up to $10.4 billion in total, implying a net cash value to Prudential of around $4.5 billion.
Broker Panmure Liberum estimated selling the stated portions of the stake could together raise around $600 million, with the proceeds contributing to additional share buybacks.
"If the market will not assign fair value to the stock, it pays to list/sell/divest component parts of the business that are trading on materially higher multiples than the group," said analyst Abid Hussain.
"Given management is guiding to over 10% growth in new business profit, earnings and cash generation and dividends for FY25 and committing to its 2027 growth targets, the shares should be trading materially higher in our view."